Knit gloves are made on knitting machines with a limited range of needle density. Thick gloves made from large yarns are generally knit on machines of 8-10 gauge (8-10 needles per inch). These yarns are the same size you find in winter coats. Larger yarns require larger needle spacing. Many high cut level gloves (level 4-5) use these large yarns and 8-10 gauge knits. For finer and thinner knit gloves, the most common knitting style is 13 needles per inch. The 13-gauge knits often use small yarns such as 210 denier nylon. This is about the size of the yarn used in an oxford shirt.
Knitting machine gauge and yarn size control how open the glove textile will be. For 13-gauge knits, for example, using a 210 denier yarn, there is perhaps a 30-40 percent open area in the textile. The percentage of openness in the knit affects how the glove feels and how much stretch it has. Most users would agree that more open knits result in cooler, more comfortable and dexterous gloves. The downside of more open knits is that it is much harder to create high cut level gloves with small yarns with open space.